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It’s time to buy your seeds! If you haven’t been seed saving, that is. Now mind you, for those of you who are saving seeds I completely understand how you could become so excited over your tomato crop making sauce and ketchup that you completely forgot to save a few ripe tomatoes for the purpose of saving seeds. Yes, you plopped them right into the boiling water for skin removal without even thinking. It happens. It’s okay. More Brandywine tomato seeds are on my list, too. I mean, I had such awesome luck with these guys this year I definitely need more.

But take heart! You’re enjoying the thrill of gardening, reaping what you sow and cooking the dickens out of it. For my raw food fans, the concept remains the same. Chopping seeds in your Cuisinart isn’t helpful for seed saving so slow down…take a deep breath and think before you throw the switch. I’m just sayin’…

Keep in mind when the seed catalogs arrive and you eagerly run to the mailbox (or jog—ice tends to be slippery) and pull out those gorgeous pages filled with plump ripe fruits and vegetables, a colorful array of flowers and herbs, you want to look for heirloom seeds. Not hybrid, not super-duper-extra-sweet or double the normal growth potential… Uh, uh. You want heirloom and preferably organic. Why?

Because once you plant those hybrid seeds, the ones meant to overcome Mother Nature’s deficiencies (don’t let her hear you say that out loud) and harvest the produce and save your seeds, you’ll be sorely disappointed next season. Hybrids and the like aren’t natural and when you replant the seeds, your new crop of plants will not reproduce the original fruit if they germinate at all. If you’re lucky, you may plant hybrid Better Boys one season—thrilled with the beasts of bounty they produce—but next season? These bad boys might only yield a crop of cherry-like tomatoes. It happens.

So save yourself the heartache and buy heirloom. And remember to buy only what you’ll actually eat. Plant seeds according to package instructions and keep moist. Think of them as babies and treat them as such. This spring I’m putting corn back on my list. Now that I know how to control those dastardly insects, I think I can reap a golden harvest this year. Wish me luck! Until then…happy gardening!

The Poinsettia I planted from last season did not fare as well as I hoped.

The reason? I believe it has something to do with sunlight. The year before, I re-planted them in pots and kept them on the back patio, south side of the house. They weren’t kept in direct sun, mind you, but they were in a very bright location. Those I planted in ground out front of my home, full shade, no good.

So this year? You guessed it! Someplace nice and protected–they are somewhat dainty, I think–but with plenty of bright light. Which makes sense. After consulting with my “grow-guides,” I was reminded these beauties prefer indirect sunlight, protected from cool drafts. As a native of Mexico, this plant doesn’t like the cold, so whenever the temperature dips below 50-55 degrees, you must be vigilant and cover it else it shrivel up and die. More

Justin and Eyry have been enjoying their garden without much issue, until now. Recently, we experienced a few days of unseasonably heavy rain and fog, and their squash did not fare well. Sad sight, isn’t it?

One problem was weather, perhaps bugs, but another is spacing. As you see here, they look pretty and full, but beware… More

So I have this cricket problem. They’re eating me out of plant and garden. Voracious little critters, they seem to be able to destroy a pumpkin vine in a matter of days, a helpless little Brussels in a matter of hours. I tried bird netting. But the squares are a bit too big.

Crickets can jump clear through them. Not always on the first try, mind you, but give them enough chances and out they go! Rascals.

So I had to get creative. For my netting, I’ve doubled up. This way, the pattern won’t match up identically and some of the squares will be rendered to triangles and the crickets won’t be able to escape. More importantly, they won’t be able to get in. The hoops are 9 gauge wire cut into pieces that I bend to suit my needs. More

Now this is enough to scare you plum out of the garden–so don’t let it come to that. Okra are one of the easiest and tastiest veggies to grow and when eaten fresh from the vine (stalk, stem…) are not slimy in the least. They are divine. My son prefers them fried–and they are good this way–but I like them fresh. But if you let your okra grow to gargantuan proportions, they will be tough, stringy and icky. Leave these mammoth pods for seed saving.

And the only way to prevent this from happening is to visit your garden every day during harvest time. Like I said, okra are EASY to grow and grow they will–inches a day! Or so it seems. These are Tami’s okra (no, we haven’t forgotten her) and in need of plucking. But in between home and the beach, work and vacation, it can be downright hard to visit your garden every day. (Yet another reason I close most of my rows for the summer. Summers are for vacation in my household!)

For optimum taste, you want your okra about two inches, maybe a tad more if you’re frying them. This little guy is perfect, isn’t he? Gorgeous AND delicious.

Speaking of gorgeous, her pepper plants are thriving. Beautiful and green and only a couple of holes to speak of, these babies are blooming and producing. Now remember, perfection is overrated. I don’t mind one bit if the leaves have a couple of blemishes. So long as they don’t kill the plant or prevent peppers from blossoming, I’m good. How about you?

Now her tomatoes are wild and wooly and taking full advantage of her divided attention. They need pinched and pruned, but Tami’s been too busy to do either. Like I said, Florida during the summertime can be very distracting. Sunny skies, warm waves and beautiful beaches… Who can stay home?

It’s tough. Forgive her. She’ll get back into the swing of it soon. Why, she has this cute little melon fella to take care of!

Isn’t he adorable? Precious. Just precious. So if you’re in the same predicament as Tami, don’t worry. You’re not alone. For all you lucky gardeners out west and up north, take heart–this is YOUR season to shine. And do share!

Please welcome Laura Clarke to my blog today! She’s a keen blogger and loves making the most of the garden, especially when it comes to the kids. Currently, she’s working on behalf of Tiger Sheds, a company out of the UK. If you’re “in the area” why not stop by the website and take a look see? Something for everyone there…

How to Make the Most of your Garden with the Kids

Kids love to be outside at this time of year and there are plenty of things that need to be done in the garden that the kids can help you with and enjoy! Whether it’s sowing seeds, picking out the weeds or watering the plants there are plenty of activities that will keep your kids entertained and also keep your garden looking great at the same time.

Grow some vegetables

No space is too small to grow your own vegetables, fruit or herbs and kids will love watching the plants grow to have edible produce that they can enjoy. Tomatoes are favourites with children as they can easily grow in a grow bag in a warm garden shed or greenhouse. Strawberries can also be grown in hanging baskets and herbs in small pots. Cooking with their own produce will give children a new-found appreciation for the lengths it takes to get food to the table.

Let them plant your pots

Show them how to fill your pots with soil and how to sow the seeds and bulbs and then get them to water them. They might not be the cleanest gardeners, so beware of soil scattering everywhere, you could even get them to sweep up the mess they made. Teach them how from tiny seeds or bulbs big plants will grow and how they have to be looked after by giving them plenty of water to drink and sitting them in a nice sunny spot.

Get them to weed your flower beds

Weeding can be a chore at the best of times so by having some little helpers on hand could save you precious time. Kids gardening kits are easily available and are great for little hands. As we all know kids love digging and playing “grownups” so they will really enjoy doing this. (Just make sure you brief them fully as to what constitutes a weed–we don’t want any plants uprooting!)

Give them the task of watering the plants

Giving children jobs to do in the house in return for their pocket-money is nothing new, so why not extend the jobs into the garden and have them water the flowers. Filling up a watering can and watering the garden can be a great game–they will forget it’s a job. Receiving their pocket-money at the end of the week will be so much more fulfilling.

Create a child’s garden

Depending on how big your garden is depends on how much space you can give to the kids. If you have a small garden, give them a large window box to look after or for large patches, why not give them a flower bed? Tell them it is their responsibility to make sure their patch looks as good as the rest of the garden and show them how to keep it tidy. They will be very happy once their flowers bloom and they see their hard work pay off.

Getting your kids involved in garden maintenance means they’ll be less likely to dig up your favourite plants, plus they’ll feel pride in looking after their very own. So get outside and let’s start gardening as a family!

Ashley received a lovely gift in the form of a Topsy Turvy Tomato plant. What every gardener-extraordinaire needs, right? Well, yes and no.

You see, gardeners are do-it-yourselfers and generally like to get up close and personal with their vegetable plants. A Topsy Turvy simply hangs there, doing all the work for you. How much fun is that?

Not much at my house–worse, it’s one of those doggone things you must remember to water. Not a good match, Topsy Turvy and I. But Ashley’s a good sport and gave the contraption a whirl. She hung it from her tree and hoped for the best.

Things went well, for a while, but one stiff wind put an end to her tree-hanging tomato experiment and down it came. Crashing to the ground.

Now what? Re-hang it? Send it off to the compost pile? Or move it to better digs.

Ashley voted for the latter.

Doesn’t he look more comfortable?

I thought so and for each visit to her garden, I photo-journaled his progress. Growing alongside her raised planter, he seemed to prosper. Thrive, really!

Until something happened. I have no idea. Could have been the heat. Could have been the drought. Could have been anything. Whatever it was, as some of you may recall (from last week’s photos), he didn’t look so good.

But I told you not to lose heart. With a little love and care this pumpkin (term of endearment) would be back on track in no time.

Ashley was diligent and didn’t give up. Remember: she’s been bitten by the garden bug (a good bug, not one of those nasty beasts that eats you out of home and garden).

She moved the boy to the patio and continued to feed him. She watered and watched and generally lost sleep over the lad’s predicament like any good mother would.

And do you know what happened? That puppy produced! Look at those gorgeous plump and juicy red tomatoes just begging to be sliced and slipped between two pieces of bread or layered in fresh salad greens.

They sometimes don’t mix. Unless you plan accordingly, vacations can wreak havoc on a garden. Shoot, even when you do plan accordingly they can shower your garden with weeds and bugs, slugs and grubs. The mere thought of leaving my garden for a week at a time gives me the heebie-jeebies. But hey, I’ve got to live, don’t I?

Yes. More than live for my garden, I’ve got to traipse across the wilderness, scour new horizons in search of greener grass and bluer skies and drag my kids alongside me. My heart soars at the sheer whisper of exotic destinations and far off places.

Until they introduced those intrusive body scanners, anyway. Ick. Unfortunately, body scanners and groping TSA agents are not the only things capable of making one mutter, “ick.” No. Vacations away from your fabulous and fertile garden can make you turn away in horror, too. Just look at what happened to Julie’s gorgeous greens.

She wasn’t gone for long. It all happened so fast…

It’s enough to make a girl want to up and quit this whole garden experiment, toss the newfound joy aside like an uncomfortable pair of heels. They’re scuffed. It will take effort to refurbish them to their original shine. Is it worth it?

Chin up, ladies–of course it’s worth it! You’re a gardener now. You must understand that Mother Nature likes to toy with a gal, test her fortitude and make sure she’s worth those glorious tomatoes she’s perfected over the centuries. After all, once she’s entrusted you with her precious commodities of fruits and vegetables, she’ll expect you to perform in turn.

And perform you will. As Julie has proved with these lovely near ripe tomatoes.

Just look at these budding beauties. Kinda makes it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?

P.S. Remember: Mother Nature does this all day long, all by herself. You’re included in the growing process at her whim. If she wants your garden to grow, it will. If not, oh well. One only has to consider my compost pile tomatoes to be sure this woman knows how to garden. (Yep. This plant is growing completely unaided in my compost pile.)

Then look at my corn. Granted this shot includes only a few stalks flattened by wind–but trust me–there were more. My husband claims I need to plant more rows, shorter rows, insisting a denser planting formation will protect the interior stalks leaving only the outer corn susceptible to annihilation. (Apparently men from Ohio know a little something about growing corn.) Fine. I’ll take it under my cap and consider it.

Next season. For now, I suggest you take this as a warning–in case you had any doubts about the ferocity of Mother Nature’s temper. Not sure what I did to deserve this, but don’t think I didn’t fight back and right those stalks at once!